I am a big believer that a sermon is not just a one way conversation. The message relies on the audiences participation… even if it is a big audience… It is not just a great presentation, but a conversation... I think it is in some ways a lot like improve comedy. The audience is what makes improv work... and in the same way, I think good presentation work when there is a prepared and gifted communicator and a ready to participate congregation...I spend my time crafting three things:
1. the content (through lots of study of the bible)
2. the flow of the message (via an outline and presentation),
3. the hooks (stories and surprises found by studying the culture and my congregation).
To be honest, I think that in seminary I was never taught hooks were important other than for an intro. I find that my message needs to be laced with things that are going to keep people engaged and keep the message in their head. Because of this when I study, I try to think through how this intersects where people live and understand what the passage means in some of the main "world's we live in: Church, Family, Friends, Culture
I do not write my messages out word for word or even close. I would have to spend at least 20 hrs just on the writing… I usually write down some meaningful sentences which do make their way into the message in some form.
